Saturday, February 8, 2014

The Times Leader reported yesterday that Luzerne County's Republican District Attorney, Stefanie Salavantis has still not completed her investigation into fuel missing from Wilkes-Barre's fuel tanks. The investigation began in July of 2012 when the same paper reported that gasoline and diesel fuel were missing from the DPW.

This isn't a few gallons either.

The Department of Revenue figured it was about 67,000 gallons of tax-free fuel that was unaccounted for and sent off a $25,919 assessment.

So first, the Times-Leader deserves thanks for exposing, well, whatever it is that was going on. But second, one has to question why it is taking such an incredibly long time to complete this investigation, forcing the "whatever it is that was going on" description.

Investigations by law enforcement are serious matters. Before any charges are filed it is critical that the authorities perform absolute due diligence to guarantee that they have uncovered the facts correctly and entirely.

If nothing else, it is clear that the Democratic administration responsible for maintaining proper accounting procedures of taxpayers resources was an absolute failure. This certainly can and probably has made the investigation more difficult.

In a few months, the taxpayers will have been waiting two years for answers on the missing fuel. If more resources are needed, even on a short-term basis, the District Attorney's office should be given what is needed to properly bring this investigation to a close.

Remember, in 2009, when you were told that Obamacare was worth it's then $848 billion price tag because 31 million people would be insured? Totally off. New estimates suggest that Obamacare will cost $2 trillion and will only insure 25 million people. So, not only does Obamacare cover less than promised, it cost more than promised as well. A lot more. $848 billion to insure 31 million people is approximately $27,000 per person. $2 trillion to insure 25 million people is about $80,000 per person...the kind of "savings" only the progressives in the federal government could produce.

Thursday, February 6, 2014

According to MediaTrackers, that's the choice Luzerne County Council had to make when unionized employees rejected a proposal to bring employees under one insurance provider, increase co-payments, and add a $500 hospital stay deductible to their plans.

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Yesterday, Republican Governor Tom Corbett unveiled his 2014-2015 budget. The focus of this budget by his detractors will be education spending, the same drum that has been beat for every year of his service. The saddest part of this whole debate is the misinformation that surrounds the budget generally but on education in particular.